Day 11 (113)

Miles: 26.1

Mileage: 2,349.1

The campsite was packed last night with families and crying children. I slept through most of it, though Richard heard some of the wails.

We were up and out before most people roused from their tents. The morning was spent high on ridges as we walked north out of Mt. rainier National Park.

It was nice to be up there in the morning because it was another hot day. Even under the trees, where we spent most of the afternoon, it was uncomfortably warm.

At this point, both Richard and I are dealing with sore feet for most of the day. Mine feel fine for the first few miles each day, then an ache sets in that gets slightly worse with each step. I have been listening to audio books to try to distract from the pain, which works pretty well. Richard’s feet are blistering again.

We both had similar issues last summer and thought we’d anticipated the problem this year with better suited footwear. Now I’m starting to think this is just the process our feet must go through on long distance hikes.

Mine will probably ache for another week, then finally resign to what I am asking. Richard’s blisters will harden into callouses and on we will go.